This invention has relation to a restraining belt for a seated vehicle occupant. The belt will be situated in clearing relationship to the vehicle occupant and to the vehicle doorway when the door is open and the occupant is entering or leaving the vehicle; and will automatically move into restraining relationship to the seated vehicle occupant when the door is closed.
Lap belts and shoulder harnesses properly positioned with respect to a vehicle occupant have been demonstrated and acknowledged to be extremely important factors in reducing the amount and seriousness of injuries and in reducing fatalities in connection with motor vehicle crashes.
Because of the failure of average and careless vehicle drivers to "put on" such restraints and to insist that their passengers put on such restraints every time they enter their motor vehicles, these belts and harnesses have been largely ineffective, even though they are present in each motor vehicle by action of law.
In an effort to achieve some measure of safety for vehicle occupants in head on crashes only, Congress had required that a passive retaining belt or an explosive device be installed in motor vehicles. The explosive device is designed to be tripped or triggered by a sharp change in inertia and will substantially instantaneously fill the space between the vehicle occupant and the windshield and dash of the vehicle to try to absorb some of the force of the momentum of the vehicle occupant as that occupant is thrown toward the front of the car. Such devices are commonly known as "air bags", are expensive to install, are expensive to maintain and reload after being exploded, are susceptible to accidental discharge in less than crash situations, and are of no particular value should the vehicle swerve on the crash and throw the occupant to either side, or toward the top or bottom of the car.
Attempts have been made to devise a passive restraining belt system and apparatus which will be in clearing relationship to a vehicle occupant when that occupant enters the vehicle and takes a position in the seat of the vehicle, and which will move automatically into restraining relationship with respect to the vehicle occupant before the vehicle moves forward. Such prior art devices have suffered from serious drawbacks, and have not become generally accepted and used for that reason.
For example, the following patents disclose structures which purport to hold a shoulder belt and a lap belt in clearing relationship with respect to a vehicle seat when the vehicle door is opened, but which, in reality, require that the vehicle occupant lift or push one or both of the belts out of the way to enter the seat, or literally crawl under one or both of the belts to get to the seat:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,726 to Lindblad, granted June 8, 1971; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,229 to Weststrate, granted July 25, 1972; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,883 to Keppel et al, granted Aug. 1, 1972; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,078 to Keppel et al, granted Nov. 6, 1973; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,944 to Wize, granted Apr. 17, 1973; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,974 to Keppel, granted Aug. 27, 1974; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,249 to Strom, granted Oct. 8, 1974; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,254 to Nagano et al, granted Oct. 28, 1975; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,978 to Hayashi, granted July 13, 1976. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,726, see above; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,229, see above; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,883, see above; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,078, see above; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,944, see above; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,974, see above; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,249, see above; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,254, see above; and PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,978, see above. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,239 to Coenen, granted Sept. 3, 1974; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,831,974; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,239; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,254; and PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,978. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,983 to Wriedt, granted February of 1975; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,294 to Hammer, granted November of 1973; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,883 to Keppel, granted August of 1972; and PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,833,239 to Coenen, granted September of 1974.
The major objection to the use of structures which entail lifting and holding the belts out of the way or letting them slide over the occupants clothing comes from vehicle occupants wearing hats and "dress-up" clothing which can be disarranged, snagged or soiled in the process. When such belts are an irritant to the vehicle occupant, ways will be found to circumvent their use.
Many passive seat belt arrangements of the prior art suffer from the further severe disadvantage that they rely on the vehicle door as an anchoring point for one or two of the restraining belts. In severe car crashes, involving rollovers, for example, the car doors often become detached from the vehicles. In such a situation, at best, the occupant is freed from any or part of the restraining belt arrangement and is thrown around within and/or from of the vehicle as if there was no restraining belt present. At worst, if the forces at work cause the departing car door to draw the restraining belt(s) down against the occupant, the belts will tend to cut the occupant in two. In many such situations, first the belts will be forced back against the occupant, and then will be instantaneously released to allow the occupant to be thrown around inside the vehicle or out of the open doorway.
Patents which show structures suffering from this major deficiency include:
Many of the prior art structures fail to provide a quick release mechanism which is readily accessible to the vehicle occupant or, perhaps more importantly, to rescuers attempting to free the vehicle occupant from a crashed vehicle. See:
and all of the patents listed above.
In some of the structures of the prior art, long and/or curved tracks are provided to carry belt guide loops through intricate paths to attempt to clear restraining belts from the car doorways. Means are provided or at least suggested in these cases to power these belt guide loops into at least partially clearing relationship with respect to the vehicle doorway and with respect to a vehicle occupant taking position on a vehicle seat; and to then power the belts back into a restraining relationship with respect to the vehicle occupant before the vehicle is operated. Such means have been suggested to be powered electrically and hydraulically as well as mechanically. Each such structure apparently calls for a finite time interval after the vehicle door is shut during which time the restraining belts "settle in" to place around the vehicle occupant. Such mechanisms are subject to jamming because of the curved paths, and, where not entirely mechanical, are subject to becoming inoperative upon loss of power, electrical, hydraulic and/or automotive, by the vehicle.
Such structures are shown in the following patents, all of which are fully identified above:
A search was conducted, and all of the pertinent patents located in that search are set out above.
In the parent application, the Examiner cited but did not apply the following:
Neither applicant nor those associated with him knows of any closer prior art nor of any prior art which anticipates the invention claimed herein.
To overcome the deficiencies in the prior art and to provide an effective passive restraining belt for seated vehicle occupants, the invention disclosed herein was developed.